Apparatus for conveying coal and discharging the same in piles



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4 v J. M. DODGE. APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING GOAL AND DISCHARGING THE SAME IN FILES.

No. 408,957. Patented A11. 13, 1889.

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J. M. DODGE. APPARATUS FOROONVEYING GOAL AND 'DISGHARGING THE SAME IN FILES.

Patented Aug. 18, 1889.

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PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. DODGE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE DODGE COAL STORAGE COMPANY,

OF NAUGATUCK, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING COAL AND DISCHARGING THE SAME IN PILES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,957, dated August 13, 1889.

Application filed October 20, 1887. Serial No. 252,867 (No model-l To all whom 2325 may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES M. DODGE, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Conveying Coal and Discharging the Same in Piles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompa- Io nying drawings, making partof this application.

My invention relates to a means for handling coal and other analogous materials, in the removal of the same from any given source I5 or locality of supply, and the amassing of the same in storage piles or heaps of prodigious size.

I-Ieretofore in storing large quantities of coal, culm, and other materials of a lumpy character it has been usual to form storageheaps of somewhat limited height and size, however, by dumping the material from supply-cars mounted on a trestle-work or elevated track; but in thus forming the storageheaps the pile could be made only of a height commensurate with that of the railroad-track from the ground and only of a base area commensurate with the angle at which the material would naturally pile, (sometimes slightly supplemented by what is called trimming) Furthermore, the subsequent removal of the material comprising a'storage-pile thus formed was made more or less inconvenient by reason of the material being piled in between and around the trestle-work of the elevated railroad; and, furthermore, in the handling thus of some materials-as, for instance, coalthe commercial value of the material was injuriously affected by reason of the breakage and the formation of dust therein consequent to the fall of the material from the elevated cars.

I propose by my invention to provide for use a simple and at the same time an efficient mechanical contrivance, adapted to be driven by any suitable motive power, which shall operate to continuously carry off from any given point or locality of supply large particles of coal or other analogous material and amass or form the same into storage heaps or piles of any desired magnitude, and to this main end and object my invention may be said to consist, primarily, in a contrivance or apparatus for the purpose mentioned composed solely of the following instrumentalities, to wit: first, an ordinary endless chain provided with laterally projecting flights second, suitable chain-wheels upon which said endless chain is mounted, one of which chain-Wheels has its axis or shaft suitably held in position at the vicinity of the ground-surface 011 which the pile of material is to be made and at the 10- cality at which the material is to be supplied, while the other is suitably supported at such an elevation as to give the endless flighted chain the proper degree of obliquity to the surface of the ground upon which the pile is to be formed; third, suitable means for properly supporting the shaft of the highermost chain wheel in the proper position and, fourth, suitable means for supplying motive power to said endless chain, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be more specifically pointed out and defined in the claims of this specification.

Secondarily, my invention may be said to consist in certain novel devices and combinations in connection with such contrivance, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be also found more specifically 8o defined in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvements relate to make and use the same, I will now proceed to more fully describe an apparatus or contrivance made according to my invention, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown the several features of my invention carried out in that form of apparatus or contrivance in which I have so far practiced them successfully.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side view or elevation of a contrivance made according to my invention and embracing all the features 5 thereof. Fig. 2 is a similar elevation, but showing only a portion of the contrivance, (the portable engine and a portion of the driving-belt being omitted,) and drawn on a somewhat larger scale for greater clearness. Fig. 3 is a top or plan view, on the same scale asFig. 2, of the parts shown in elevation at said Fig. 2; and Fig. l is a back or end view, on the same scale, of the same parts, and taken from a point of View indicated by the arrow at the right-hand side of said Fig. 2.

In these several figures the same parts will be found designated by the same letters of reference.

A is part of an ordinary trestle-work, on which is built a railroad-track a for the accommodation of a train of cars or dumps, which bring the coal, culm, or other material to be discharged at a given point or locality from said cars and to be distributed or moved off into an extended pile or heap.

Bis an ordinary sprocket or chain wheel mounted on a suitable shaft Z), the bearings or boxes of which are suitably secured, as shown, to the framework of the trestle A, and from said chain-wheel 13 passes off laterally and upwardly the double run of conveyor-chain C, provided with the flights c, the said endless chain extending obliquely upward to any desired or requisite elevation and to a point at any desired distance away from the trestle-work, at which elevated point it passes partially around an ordinary driving chain-wheel. I), the shaft (Z of which is mounted in suitable boxes or metallic stands properly secured to the upper portion of any suitable supporting frame or A- frame-such, for instance, as shown at E the base of which rests upon the ground, and the height of which is sufiicient to support the shaft (Z (and other working parts to be presently described) at the proper or desired elevation.

71 are what I term aerial or suspended idlers, the function of which is to support or take up the slack of the eonveyer-chain, and which are mounted on spindles or shafts i, that are suspended or supported, as shown, at the desired or requisite localities relatively to the conveyor-chain by means of steel guys or wire ropes J, the lower ends of which pass, preferably, over or through the trestle-work A, and thence downwardly to suitable anchorages, (to which they are secured,) and the upper ends of which pass up over the top of the A-frame or frame-work E, and thence downwardly, as shown, to any desired point of attachment, where they may be provided with any suitable means for tightening or taking them up for the purpose of keeping the said guys sufficiently taut between the trestle-work and the top of the frame E to maintain the shafts of the idlers "2 and thereby the upper run of the COIIVGXOP-Ohftlll, in theproper positions.

I I are suitable steel guys or wire cables, which are secured at their upper ends in any suitable manner to the upper part of the frame-work E, and which extend thence downwardly and divergent] y to any suitable anchorages, to which their lower ends may be secured in the proper manner. These guys I pull or strain in opposition to the draft or pull of the obliquely-suspended conveyer-chain C,

(and the cables J for suspending the idlers,) and thus operate to maintain the supportingframe E in the proper vertical position for the purpose of keeping the conveyeaehain in proper working condition.

The guys or draft-cables I may, if it be found expedient to do so, be taken up and let out at their lower anchored ends for the purpose of throwing the frame E more or less out of plumb in either direction, and thus changing the degree of tautness or obliquity of the lower run of theconVeyer-chain for the purpose of varying the action of the chain in building up the pile of material.

At the upper portion of the frame E, and immediately over the shaft (1 of the sprocket drive-wheel D, is mounted in suitable boxes a shaft is, on which is keyed or secured a pinion g, that engages with and drives the gear 7, that is made fast on shaft (1, and to said shaft is also keyed a rope-wheel G, from which passes rearwardly and downwardly an endless drive cable or band II, the lower end of which passes, as shown, around the drive pulley or wheel \V of the steamengine or other portable motor U of the apparatus, all in such manner that by the rotatory motion imparted to the shaft or wheel (i from the drive rope or belt ll the necessary motion and power will be transmitted through the pinion g and gear f to the sprocket-wheel D, which operates the conveyer-chain.

Of course, so far as the primary or main part of my invention may be concerned, the convcyer-chain 0 might be driven from the lower end of its double run; but by using the upper wheel D as the driver, and by pulling on the driving mechanism located at the upper end of the frame E do .vnwardly and rearwardly to the engine or other motor, (not shown,) the drive belt or band II is made to perform also the function of a guy, exercising a draft-strain in opposition to that of the conveyer-chain, and thus assisting in holding the frame E in proper position, and this arrange ment of the driving mechanism I consider a desirable and important feature of the contrivance shown as an entirety.

Of course in the event of the necessity or desirability of canting the upper end of the frame-work E in either direction (as hereiir before suggested) it will be necessary to have the drive-belt ll connected with a portable engine, which may be rolled in either direction to permit the taking up or letting outof the guy-ropes I, as hereinbefore explained.

In the general operation of a contrivance constructed as shown, and as so far herein described, the conveyer-chain is supposed to be driven in the direction indicated by the arrow at Fig. 1, and while in motion the flights c of said chain will. operate upon the extreme upper portion of the mass of coal or other material that may be dumped from the elevated road a through the trestle-work A and accumulated at the vicinity of the lower run of said chain in such manner that the said flights c of the said chain will continu- (through the upper portion of the trestle- ..work A) this conveyance or carrying oif of and the building up of the material will be continued by the constantly-travelin g flights c of the lower run of the chain, carrying the pile farther and farther along in the direction in which the lower run of the chain travels, and at the same time increasing the height of the pile in conformity with the ascending line of travel of said lower run of the chain to any desired extent, as shown, forinstance,

by the profile dotted line 4 5 6 of Fig. 1, the

upper surface or portion of the mass of material first piled operating as the floor, so to V speak, for the opposing action of the lower ends and working-faces of the flights c in the performance of their function as conveyers or carriers to continuously carry along the subsequently-supplied material that comes from the source of supply at the vicinity of the-trestle-work A.

Of course it will be understood that in accordance with the laws of gravitation and the natural sliding tendency or the mobility of the particles composing the pile the latter will gradually increase at its base-line in a direction transverse to the line of travel of the conveyer-chain, so that the completed pile or heap which the flighted chain is capable of forming or producing will be of much vaster proportions, both as to the area of its base and as to its height, than the initial pile or heap which was located in close proximity to the trestleavork A and to the source of supplv.

If thelowermost end or portion of the flighted chain be placed closer to the ground, the supply of material to the initial pointin building up the pile will of course be carried off at a lower level, and in a case in which the track for the dumps or supply-cars should be near to the surface of the ground 011 which the storage-heap is to be built upthe best results of my improved apparatus may be attained.

The degree of obliquity to the ground (or floor on which the pile is to be built up) at which the flighted chain should beset should about correspond with the natural angle of repose of the coal or other material being handled.

In practice I have set the chainat about an angle of twenty-five degrees, this being approximately the angle at which the coal I have handled will build up and stand ina dal pile'or heap.

It will be understood that by the use of the aerial or suspended idlers (any desired number of which, of course, may be employed) I am enabled to take up and support the slack of the upper run of the chain without having any devices conflictingwith the formation of the prodigious pile of material which the machine'or apparatus is capable of producing, and it will also be understood, of course, that after having produced a pile of the form and proportions, for instance, of that indicated at Fig. 1 it is'only necessary in order to duplicate such a pile to shift or move the apparatus laterally, so as to operate upon a fresh supply delivered at a different wise of the track a.

I have herein shown and described the details of construction to be in accordance with those of contrivances which I have up to the present time built and put into practical operation'with great advantage and success; but it will be understood that many or all of the details of construction, as well as the proportions and precise relative arrangements of the parts, maybe modified without changing the novel principle of construction and mode of operation peculiar to the main part of my invention, and hence without departing from the spirit thereof. Although I have in practice found it best to combine in one machine pyram ipoint length or apparatus all of theimportant features herein shown and described, the contrivance may of course be made and operated with great advantage as compared with the means heretofore employed for conveying andheaping up coal and other material without embodying therein all of the features of my invention. I therefore wish it to be understood that the several and separable features which I have hereinbefore described may be used separately with more or less advantage.

I also wish it to be understood that I am aware of the fact that a flighted chain has been employed to scrape along or convey sand, mud, (to, in a manner such as shown in United States Letters Patent No. 254,322, of the year 1882; but in such patented contrivance the flighted chain either had combined with it the usual floor of whatisknown -end of such material-supporting surface or floor to accumulate in or form a heap or mass upon a surface located at a much lower level. The broad or distinguishing feature of difference between such contrivance and that IIS made the subject of the primary part of my present invention lies in this: that while in such contrivance either an artificial or a natural carrier surface or floor is permanently combined with the lower run of the iiighted chain and is arranged parallel therewith, so as to produce the well-known principle of act-ion of an ordinary trough conveyer for the purpose merely of transporting given charges of a material from one point to another, in my apparatus the iiighted chain has no coactive floor or conveyer-surface combined with it, but has its lower run arranged relatively to the ground so as to make an immediate departure therefrom, and has its flights capable only of coaction with the oblique side or surface of such initial pyramidal pile of material as may have been amassed at the receiving or lowermost end of the flighted chain, the flighted chain thus serving the diametrically-opposite purpose of accumulating the material fed to its lowermost portion and building the material upwardly and forwardly from that point to fill in (so to speak) the ever-widening space between the oblique line in which the flights of its lower run travel and the horizontal ground-surface on which is based the pile of material thus built up.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An apparatus for piling up or building storage-heaps of coal and other analogous materials, composed of the following-named instrumen talities, viz: first, an endless chain provided with flights 0 and arranged obliquely to the surface on which the pile is to be built; second, the chain-wheels over which said chain is handed and by means of one of which it is driven; third, some suitable means for supporting the lower one of said chain-wheels in close proximity to the point at which the material to be built up into a storage-heap is to be supplied and for supporting the other one at a much higher elevation, and, fourth, means for imparting power to one of the said chain-wheels, these several inst-rumentalities being arranged and operating togcther as specified, so that the coal or other material continuously supplied to the groundsurfaee at the vicinity of the lowermost portion of the obliquely-arranged flighted chain will be carried along by the flights of said chain and accumulatedorbuilt up into a pyramidal heap, substantially as hereinbcfore set forth.

2. In combination with the suspended endless-chain conveyor, an aerial or suspended idler or idlers for supporting the upper run of the chain, and suitable cables, with which the ends of the shaft or shafts of such idler or idlcrs are connected and by which they are properly supported at a suitable elevation, all substantially in the manner and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. In an apparatus for amassing or piling up coal, composed, essentially, of an endless flighted chain mounted on suitable wheels, with one end of its double run in close proximity to the ground at the point or source of supply of the material and its other end supported at a much higher elevation, and suitable means for maintaining the uppermost end of said fiighted chain in its designed position, the combination, with said obliquelyarranged ii i ghted chain, of a drive-wheel which is located at the uppermost end thereof, a supporting pole or frame E, on which is supported the shaft of said drive-wheel, and a drive belt or chain which extends from the wheel on said shaft obliquely downwardin an opposite direction to that in which runs from said wheel the flighted chain, and which has its lowermost portion connected with the drive-wheel of a suitable engine, all in such manner, as described, that the draft-strain. of the said drive-belt directly counteracts the draft-strain of the coal-piling flighted chain.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of October, 1887.

JAMES M. DOD GE.

In presence of- M. GETZ, I I. Bacon. 

